Hyderabad, March 7 (IANS) Stating that he was proud of his son Naga Chaitanya being chosen for the Gaddar State Film award for Best Actor for 2025 by the Telangana state government, Telugu star Nagarjuna on Saturday said that Naga Chaitanya's stellar performance in 'Thandel' deserved this pat on the back.
Soon after the Telangana government announced the winners of the prestigious state awards for 2025, now known as the Gaddar Awards, Nagarjuna took to his X timeline to congratulate the winners of this year's awards and thank the government for instituting the ANR Award in honour of his late father, Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee Akkineni Nageswara Rao.
Nagarjuna wrote, "Heartiest congratulations to all the #2025GaddarAward winners! A big thank you to the Telangana Government @revanth_anumula garu @Bhatti_mallu garu for instituting the ANR Award in honour of my father, Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee Akkineni Nageswara Rao garu. Its truly a fitting tribute."
The actor also expressed delight that the ANR award this year had gone to veteran actress Jayapradha, who, Nagarjuna said, was a very deserving person.
He wrote, " Delighted that it (the ANR Award) is awarded to the most deserving Jayasudha garu!"
He went on congratulate Mega star Chiranjeevi for having won the NTR Award and also expressed pride at his son Naga Chaitanya winning the award for Best Actor for his performance in Thandel.
Nagarjuna wrote, "Mega congrats to @kchirutweets garu on the NTR Award. And proud of my son @chay_akkineni for Best Actor; his stellar performance in #Thandel deserves this pat on the back! #TeluguCinema #GaddarAwards2025."
For the unaware, the film awards have been instituted by the Telangana state government in the name of revolutionary poet and balladeer Gaddar, who passed away in 2023. It may be recalled that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had the year before last announced that the Nandi Awards for excellence in Telugu cinema would be revived and renamed after Gaddar. The awards were revived after a gap of 14 years last year.
--IANS
mkr/
